


Wasteland Survival Guide: Supplementary Material for the Home Chef

by SynthApostate



Category: Fallout (Video Games)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-18
Updated: 2020-04-18
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:26:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23718931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SynthApostate/pseuds/SynthApostate
Summary: It’s a cookbook!
Kudos: 6





	1. Sauces, Etc.: Yeast!

**Author's Note:**

> I don’t have the spoons to write something with a plot right now. I hope you’re all doing well.

Chapter One: Ingredients, Sauces, Etc.

Sourdough Starter (Yeast!)

Pre-war stores of yeast are still available if you know where to look, but supplies are rapidly dwindling. So why not make your own?

Ingredients:  
Fruit - dried or fresh. I like to use Dandy Boy Apples, but any kind will do.

Water - non-radiated, if possible. Radiation can be “cooked out” in the usual manner (instructions given in WSG volume 7) but be warned, excessive rads early in the fermentation process may change the characteristics of the yeast.

Flour - Pre-War style works great if you can get it. If not, razorgrain flour is fine. If grinding your own, remember that razorgrain must be parboiled and stripped, or else ground extremely fine, so as not to cause internal bleeding.

Instructions:

Combine fruit and water in a glass jar and stir. Add in an equal amount of flour. This should make a loose, wet dough.

Cover with a lid or towel, and keep dough warm for a few days. Feed it with a spoonful each of flour and water twice a day. (Don’t worry, “feeding” is just an expression. Sourdough doesn’t bite, as far as we’ve been able to discover. If yours does, please write in and tell us about it!)

After a few days, your starter should be bubbly and sour. Congratulations, it’s ready to use!

To use:

One day before baking, separate a small amount of starter and add it to about one ounce of water. Add flour. It should bubble up much faster this time. As soon as it does, you’re good to go.

Keep feeding your seed starter and you can use it again and again!


	2. Sauces, Etc.: Mutfruit Curd

Fruit Curd

Most Pre-War recipes we’ve found call for lemon, which we have been informed is still grown in the extreme southern areas of the NCR. Many vaults were also stocked with artificial lemon flavoring. (If using vault supplies, remember to look for lemon juice, not lemon vodka.) For the rest of us, crunchy mutfruit achieves a similar flavor, with a texture that you just couldn’t find in the old days.

Ingredients:

1 large lemon or crunchy mutfruit (make sure you only use the sour section, closest to the rind)

3/4 cup Brahmin butter

1 cup sugar

3 eggs from a healthy radchicken

To cook:

Grate mutfruit rind (holding it over a lit match for 10 to 15 seconds makes it easier to cut.) You should have about one spoonful of grated rind.

Cut out the center portion of the mutfruit and set it aside. Save it for another recipe, or just a tasty snack. Take the sour section next to the rind and squeeze out three spoonfuls of juice. It takes a lot of effort to get juice out of a crunchy mutfruit, so keep at it.

In a heavy saucepan, over low heat, stir together juice, peel, butter, and sugar until the butter melts.

In a small bowl, beat eggs. Add eggs to butter mixture and cook, stirring constantly, until mixture is very thick (about 15 minutes.)

And you’re done! Use it right away, or store it in the icebox if you have one.


	3. Sauces, Etc.: Jam!

Mixed Berry Jam

We have found quite a few prewar jam recipes that call for pectin, a thickener that can be found in some vaults and major settlements. However, if you, like so many of us, aren’t able to find this speciality item, try this recipe instead. It makes a softer, still delicious jam using only the pectin naturally occurring in berries.

Ingredients:

About one pound of tarberries and/or wild mutfruit (those with access to GECK-derived produce can substitute blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, or all three.)

1/2 cup sugar (add more if your tarberries are particularly bitter)

2 spoonfuls of lemon or sour mutfruit juice

Pinch of salt

How to cook:

Before you begin, find a metal spoon and freeze it. This step is not necessary for cooking, but helps you test whether or not your jam is done.

Cut your berries into chunks, then combine all ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat and mash until chunky.

Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring frequently, and cook about 20 minutes.

When it’s looking thick, drip a small amount on the back of your frozen spoon. Drag your finger through the drip. If it leaves a clear line, you’re done! If the jam runs back together, keep cooking.

When the jam is ready, pour it into a glass jar and let it cool. If you don’t use it right away, it can be stored cold for up to three weeks.


	4. Sauces, Etc.: How to Render Fat

Rendered Fat

Pigs, long thought to be extinct, were recently discovered in the Canadian Wilds and reintroduced to several farms up north. This recipe calls for fatback, traditionally made from pork fat, but any fat from any kind of meat can be prepared in this way. If you don’t have a supply line to Canadia, the bits left over after making molerat jerky (see WSG 7) provide similar characteristics to pork.

Also note that rendered pork fat is called lard, while brahmin fat is called tallow. Why? That’s not a rhetorical question. If you know the answer, write and let us know.

Ingredients:

Fatback  
Clean water

How to cook:

Cut your fat into small pieces. Dump it in a pan. Add just enough water to cover the bottom of the pan.

Cook over medium heat until the water starts to boil, then turn it down to low.

Cook 1-2 hours, stirring occasionally. OR cook over VERY low heat 6-8 hours.

A longer cook time over the lowest possible heat will give you snow white lard with neutral odor and flavor, perfect for baking with. A shorter cook over higher heat makes a yellowish lard with a slight savory flavor.

When the fat is rendered, it will be translucent yellow with crispy bits (called cracklins) floating in it. Using a strainer or piece of cheesecloth, strain your fat into another container. Wait about 15 minutes, then check for clarity; you can strain it a second time, or just pour it straight into a glass jar for storage. Be careful. It’s HOT.

Let the jar sit until your lard cools to room temperature. It will solidify and change to its final white or pale yellow color.

Store cold for to three months.

What to do with the cracklins:

Deep fry until they puff up in the oil, or pan fry until crispy. They crackle while they cook! You can add salt if you like, although if your Canadian fatback came packed in salt, you may not need to.

Note: As the writers of a cookbook, we feel it is our duty to warn you not to eat brahmin cracklins. While technically food, they taste like earwax.


End file.
